The NFL draft is a crapshoot for many teams that don't have very good guys that can both locate the players that will develop with NFL coaching and players that will both provide depth and also help make the other players around them better as they gain NFL experience

The top 200 players out of college have potential to be very good players in the NFL - locating the players that can help your franchise and have the desire to be as good as they can be is what marks the difference

we have not had much success with the draft but that is because we traded away so many draft picks - PLUS, we did not have a FO (or scouting department) that knew anything about finding young players that fit what the franchise needed - they also wouldn't hire anyone that knew what to look for, for fear of showing up their own stupidity

P A T I E N C E - Scot & Jay's goal here is to make this franchise better - it will take time they understand the need to change to primarily building through the draft - plus have some luck go their way

Quite naturally (as Doug Williams used to say) I agree with all you say below. Pittsburgh clearly demonstrates that the draft need not be a crapshoot at all. For them it is more like a reliable tool. Would you mostly attribute this problem we have had to Dan Snyder?

DarthMonk

SkinsJock wrote:The NFL draft is a crapshoot for many teams that don't have very good guys that can both locate the players that will develop with NFL coaching and players that will both provide depth and also help make the other players around them better as they gain NFL experience

The top 200 players out of college have potential to be very good players in the NFL - locating the players that can help your franchise and have the desire to be as good as they can be is what marks the difference

we have not had much success with the draft but that is because we traded away so many draft picks - PLUS, we did not have a FO (or scouting department) that knew anything about finding young players that fit what the franchise needed - they also wouldn't hire anyone that knew what to look for, for fear of showing up their own stupidity

This took 20 minutes. They did almost as well in round 4 and found many gems later.

Almost ALL their picks, regardless of round, make the team.

I left out NO ONE! These are ALL their round 2 and 3 picks. They ALL made the team. You can add a year to almost every NFL stint since they don't include this year.

WE NEED TO KEEP OUR PICKS AND PICK WELL. IT IS NOT A FRICKIN' CRAPSHOOT. IT IS A TEST OF THE FRONT OFFICE!

DarthMonk

That's 3 or 4 players give or take that are worth a crap from rounds 2-3 over a 9 year span.

They do draft well in the first round though. And If you actually have 2nd-3rd rounders every year, unlike the skins, you may have some Mike Wallace's in there somewhere. After the first round, the draft IS a crapshoot. It's smart to just take the best athlete you can find IMO after the first round.

This took 20 minutes. They did almost as well in round 4 and found many gems later.

Almost ALL their picks, regardless of round, make the team.

I left out NO ONE! These are ALL their round 2 and 3 picks. They ALL made the team. You can add a year to almost every NFL stint since they don't include this year.

[size=18]WE NEED TO KEEP OUR PICKS AND PICK WELL. IT IS NOT A FRICKIN' CRAPSHOOT. IT IS A TEST OF THE FRONT OFFICE![/size]

DarthMonk

That's 3 or 4 players give or take that are worth a crap from rounds 2-3 over a 9 year span.

Really??!! That's what you got out of this??!! How about "That's a 100% success rate in guys making the team over 90% of whom are still in the league after 2 to 10 years."

brad7686 wrote:They do draft well in the first round though.

I'll say!

brad7686 wrote:And If you actually have 2nd-3rd rounders every year, unlike the skins, you may have some Mike Wallace's in there somewhere. After the first round, the draft IS a crapshoot.

Not for the Steelers! They make the team and stay in the league for 10 years!

brad7686 wrote:It's smart to just take the best athlete you can find IMO after the first round.

I absolutely agree with that!

DarthMonk

I see your point, a lot of those guys did make the team, but only a few are obviously better than someone you could get for cheap in FA. Those players would be Woodley, Wallace, Smith, McFadden. I guess Hope was good in his day, but everybody is in that defense, Essex is ok and Urbik could be good with time. I was simply saying they don't have a gem every time because that's impossible. But like we got ey in the third, we could find more gems if we had more mid round picks. Because you won't find a good player after the first round every year.

Plax, Hampton, Simmons, Poloamalu, Rapeburger, Miller, Holmes, Timmons, Mendenhall, Pouncey I know of easily.. Hood I don't really know about.. good grief, that's how you do the draft properly. Them, gnats, and Pats seem to always draft good by keeping players on the bench and developing them. I hope our new GM follows them

Are people really saying that the Steelers don't draft well in the 2nd and 3rd rounds????? Does anyone know how difficult it is to STAY in the NFL for more than 4 years. The Steelers have more guys from the 2-3s still in the NFL than some first round drafts. The Steelers find their stars in the first round consistently and then either find additional stars or role players in the 2nd-3rds. Hopefully people have come to realize after this season how important depth is in this game. Those guys listed up there are the reason that a team like the Steelers can endure injuries without a hitch. Not seeing that is being completely blind to how the "team" is constructed.

I personally think this is a good example of something that I have always contended: the GM is the single most important person within an NFL organization.

A team is only as good as their GM. They are the architect. Without a good/great one, your entire building will implode.

markshark84 wrote:Are people really saying that the Steelers don't draft well in the 2nd and 3rd rounds????? Does anyone know how difficult it is to STAY in the NFL for more than 4 years. The Steelers have more guys from the 2-3s still in the NFL than some first round drafts. The Steelers find their stars in the first round consistently and then either find additional stars or role players in the 2nd-3rds. Hopefully people have come to realize after this season how important depth is in this game. Those guys listed up there are the reason that a team like the Steelers can endure injuries without a hitch. Not seeing that is being completely blind to how the "team" is constructed.

I personally think this is a good example of something that I have always contended: the GM is the single most important person within an NFL organization.

A team is only as good as their GM. They are the architect. Without a good/great one, your entire building will implode.

[quote="brad7686]
That's 3 or 4 players give or take that are worth a crap from rounds 2-3 over a 9 year span.

They do draft well in the first round though. And If you actually have 2nd-3rd rounders every year, unlike the skins, you may have some Mike Wallace's in there somewhere. After the first round, the draft IS a crapshoot. It's smart to just take the best athlete you can find IMO after the first round.[/quote]

Not best athlete, I think you mean best football player. I'm in favor of taking the player most likely to help the team. (ie I wouldn't have picked Fred Davis, who, while a good player is wasted because we have a Pro Bowl caliber TE ahead of him).

yupchagee wrote:Not best athlete, I think you mean best football player. I'm in favor of taking the player most likely to help the team. (ie I wouldn't have picked Fred Davis, who, while a good player is wasted because we have a Pro Bowl caliber TE ahead of him).

No i meant best athlete but yea i would take position into consideration.

brad7686 wrote:That's 3 or 4 players give or take that are worth a crap from rounds 2-3 over a 9 year span.

They do draft well in the first round though. And If you actually have 2nd-3rd rounders every year, unlike the skins, you may have some Mike Wallace's in there somewhere. After the first round, the draft IS a crapshoot. It's smart to just take the best athlete you can find IMO after the first round.

Not best athlete, I think you mean best football player. I'm in favor of taking the player most likely to help the team. (ie I wouldn't have picked Fred Davis, who, while a good player is wasted because we have a Pro Bowl caliber TE ahead of him).

Does anyone besides Vinne think Fred Davis was the best athlete available?

Oh. and it's more like 95% on guys making the team and then playing for years.